Shocked and Disgusted: American Election 2016

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I had a post planned to go up today but after recent shocking and unfathomable events, it seemed more topical and needed for me to put my anger and hurt into words as best as I can.

For anyone who hasn't heard- not sure how- America just elected Donald Trump to be their next president. To put this into other words, a thieving, conning businessman was just elected to run America, after saying offensive things to the majority of the population and making claims of plans to isolate and remove a lot of citizens from the country. Good job!

I'd actually like to change that sentence as I don't believe America elected Trump, SOME Americans elected Trump and unfortunately that SOME were too large in number and too successful. Yes a democracy represents what the people want in theory and people are never all going to agree but I don't believe it represents everyone, which is why I acknowledge that only SOME Americans are at fault.

I realise America had two pretty crap choices for Presidency this year and a lot of people supported neither and simply went for what they saw as the lesser of two evils. Be that the case, I struggle to see how anybody could be worse than a man wanting to build a wall to separate Mexico and make the Mexicans pay for it; a man who made comments about sexual assault and had numerous claims made against him, which he claimed were all lies (yes, everybody made it up!) and that some were too ugly to sexually assault; a man who insulted prisoners of war, belittling them and removing their hero title because they were captured; a man who wants to ban all Muslims; a man who more than likely, hasn't paid tax and; a man who isolated and offended a large number of other groups of people!

For me, this is a mirror image of what happened in Germany when Hitler was elected... there are so many similarities between the two men that I can't help but fear for the future of America and the future of the world as a whole. I did an article on this a few days ago, so if you want to read more into that, you can do so here.

As an American citizen right now, I would feel deeply saddened and scared about my future and the future of the country. I wouldn't know which claims to believe and therefore which to worry about happening. There are so many individuals and groups targetted by Trump that it's hard not to be scared about their future as an American citizen and as an individual who realises the huge support the atrocious beliefs many seem to share. If one man saying offensive and damaging things can rise to power with support behind him, it gives racism, sexism, homophobia etc the false belief that these things are acceptable to say and act on, which they aren't! It can't help but cause a cultural divide which is the opposite of what we need in today's society.

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Trump claiming that all Muslims are bad and should be banned from the country will do nothing to help the situation. It simply divides the country and causes the religious group to feel and be victimised. In a situation such as the one fighting so-called 'ISIS', everybody needs to stay united. By blaming the whole religion for one group of extremists, it only causes more problems and more divide. In doing so, it makes it easier to understand why people might turn to another source for a sense of community and unity, whether or not it's achieved when they get there. Encouraging people to blame a whole group can do nothing to help and can only increase their susceptibility of radicalisation. I don't mean that to say I believe all Muslims are susceptible to radicalisation, I believe isolating a group of people will encourage some individuals to turn to alternative sources for validation and that's the same in any religion or culture, I am merely relating it to this particular extremist group as that's the area Trump focused on when making the preposterous statements.

I realise that the president doesn't have all the power to make and enforce decisions but he has a lot and a dangerous man such as himself, should not have access to so much power in my opinion.

The idea that Trump had enough support to get into power genuinely brought me to tears this morning. I could do nothing but sit there in bewilderment and anger as the tears rolled down my cheeks. So although there is so much more I could pick up on, I will stop here and leave you with one last message...

I am sorry for anyone feeling alone, offended or victimised by the decision. I hope enough people realise the problems and stupidity in his claims (although he did get voted in so I don't have a great deal of faith in that anymore). I hope you realise your value and don't start doubting the equality that SHOULD exist among all races, genders, sexualities, jobs etc. I'll be thinking of you.

Love, Steph x